Collapsible swimming and bathing pool



June 15, 1948. o, ALVAREZ 2,443,440

COLLAPSIBLE SWIMMING AND BATHING POOL Filed July 3, 1946 IN VEN TOR.

BY, t

Patented June 15, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Octavio Jose Alvarez, New York, N. Y., assignor to Alvarez Patent Corporation,

New York, N. Y.

Application July 3, 1946, Serial No. 681,285

2 Claims.

My present invention relates to collapsible swimming or bathing pools and more particularly to collapsible pools made of flexible and foldable sheet material.

It is an object of my present invention to provide a collapsible swimming or bathing pool which is of simple construction and easy to manufacture.

It is also an object of my present invention to provide a collapsible swimming or bathing pool the side wall or walls of which are held in operative erected position by the buoyancy of the side wall or side walls themselves.

It is a further object of my present invention to provide a collapsible pool which can be easily put into operative position ready for use simply by inflating the same. i

It is still a further object of my presentinvention to provide an inflatable swimming or bathing pool which after inflation is in operative position, without the necessity of relying upon water pressure to expand the side walls of the pool.

It is another object of my present invention to provide a collapsible pool the side walls of which are constructed so that it is impossible to bend them outward when the pool is filled with water, thus eliminating the possibility of undesired overflow.

Finally, it is also an object of my present invention to provide a swimming or bathing pool which is very sturdy in construction so that it can be very well used by children as outdoor wading pool.

With the above objects in view, my present invention mainly consists of a collapsible swimming or bathing pool comprising in combination a water impervious bottom wall, and a water impervious inwardly inclined tubular collapsible side Wall arranged along the perimetral edge of the water impervious bottom wall.

By inwardly inclining this tubular side wall, the same will rest partly on the water and be forced upward by its buoyancy; thus, it ispossible to prevent outward bending of this wall and eliminate the possibility of undesired overflow of water.

As the inwardly inclined tubular sidewall is made of highly flexible and also at least slightly stretchable material, I have found it of great members: ,Thus, for instance,-good results were also obtained with a collapsible side wall having a triangular, rectangular or otherwise shaped cross section.

, into the space within the pool so as The tubular side wall has to be joined to the Water impervious bottom wall so that any possibility of leakage of water along the perimetral edge is avoided. Preferably, the entirebottom wall and the tubular side wall are made of water impervious sheetmaterial, e. g. a plastic coated fabric or a plastic, e. g. rubber sheet, and the tubular side wall is joined to the bottom wall .by integrally uniting the plastic coatings or plastic sheets along the perimetral bottom edge of the side wall. a

In order to inflate and deflate the tubular side wall, I provide a valve in this wall. I also provide another valve in the'bottom wall or along the perimetral bottom edge of the same reaching to enable introduction of water into the pool or draining it therefrom.

The novel features which I consider as characteristic for my invention are set forth in particularin the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a swimming pool according to my present invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross section of the swimming pool shown in Fig. 1, along line 2-2 of Fig.1, in noninflated condition;

Fig. 3 is a cross section through the swimming pool shown in Fig. 1 in inflated condition; and

means for introducing- Fig. 4 is a cross section through a modified embodiment of a swimming pool according to my present invention having side walls with triangular cross section.

The collapsible pool shown in Figs. 1 to 3 has a circular bottom wall ill consisting of a water impervious sheet e. g. water impervious impregnated fabric or a plastic, e. g. rubber sheet. As clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the side wall i5 of the pool consists of two substantially equally shaped superimposed conical bands H and i2 of WateLimperVious-sheet materiahe, g..-a plastic coated-.fabricior'a plastic, e. grrubbersheetifirmly united along their perimetral bottom edges l3 and their perimetral top edges Hi.

This side wall is joined at its bottom edge to the perimetral edge wall It).

The connection betweenrsidewall-and bottom. wall Ill has to be absolutely This can be obtained by integrally connecting with each other the plastic materials with which the fabrics forming the conical side andbottom walls are coated, or by integrally connecting the sheets themselves if the same consist entirely of plastic material. ehg. rubber.

Asclea'rly shown in .Figs. 2 aside; the conical .bands forman inwardly'nclined conical tubular side. wall? when air is introduced! into. the closed space formed by the. conical bands" iii an'd'lZL.

"sidewall l5 appears in uninflated; condition as shownlin'lii'g. 2;. i. e. thetwoibands' H and i2 forming this wall are in contact with each'other. Iwish tov note. in this. connection that the show- ."ing inFiggl2 has? been condition of. sidewall. 1'5" in uniriflated condition. The fact is that in suchunihfittted. condition the side wall I55 'will'not stay up: as shown but will collapse and rest 'uponthe-bottomwall I'll.

Fig. 3"shows thepool described abovein inflated condition. In this condition, the conical bands Hand l2 forming; the conical side-wall l5 are -sp aced' from each" other' and'this wall has an elliptical cross section conicahtubular' sidewall "It shouldlhowevery bestressed that if thepool isifilled with water the same" will compress the lower portionofthe' tubular side-wall and-its iupp'erportion will actually rest on the water'sup- 1 ported'byits' buoyancy.

As the textile" material-- and /or plastic material of which the pool mainly consists are= to a certain degree" elastic andstretchable, I "found it of great importance to provide at the top of the conical tubuia-rcord ll extending along the upper perimetral edge 18 of the wall "This cord has to be nonstretch'able and shorter than the perimetral edge M of the bottom wall it.

Preferably, the rein-forcing cord IT "is: arranged within the tubular side-wall FE-as shown i'n "Fig. 3; however, it is" also possible :to-secure this reinforcing cord to the outer: face of the side' -wall along the upperperi metral -edge 18 thereof.

In order to enable i-nflati'on' -anddeflation of the tubular side wall 15, 1 provide in thexouter face of this wallan air -valve l dbyawhichthe space within the l wall can I be connected with air intoa the 1 same. Of

to deflate the side wall whenever "desired.

I also arrange a water-valve luprovidedx atthe perimetral edge M of the bottomuwalluiaand serving for introducing wateriinto the. pool and draining f it therefrom whenever: desired.

M of the circular bottom:

water: impervious..

i5. Inthis-gcondition','the P5 is self supporting.

side -Wall I 5'-- a reinforcing chosen" only to show the :per perimetral edge of 'flatable side wall.

spaced from its perimetral -Fig. +4-,byvnumeral 2i.

: the details shown, and structuralchanges may. be made without de- .sofully reveal the;gistof my .cancby applying. current knowledge readily adapt --.tures.that,.,.f-rom the standpoint of prior art,

-.edges to the :pervious*bottomwall so as to form an inwardly In Fig. 4 I have shown a modified swimming or wading pool according to my present invention. The side wall 2| of this pool is formed by two conical fabric bands 22 and 23 of difierent shape: The difference between these two fabric bands is that the angle formed by them is different so that they cannot be superimposed and attached to the bottom wall along the same line.

Actually, the two fabric bands forming the side wall are connected along their upper perimetral edges 24 to each other while their bottom edges arejoined to the bottom wall 25 spaced from each :'=other: 'Ilhe outer fabric band 22 is joined to the bottom wall '25 along its'perimetral edge 2%, while the fabric band 23 is joined to the bottom wall edge 26 as indicated in The thus formed tubular side wall 2| is inwardly inclined and has a triangular cross section, as shown.

.A'reinforcing cable 28 is provided within the tubular wall 2? along the upper perimetral edge 24-: thereof.

.It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of collapsible-containers for water and other fluids, differing from the .typ es described above.

WhileIhave illustrated and described the invention as embodied in collapsible swimming or bathing-poolal I do. not intend to. be limited to since variousv modifications parting in any way from the spirit of my invention.

Without further ana ysis, the foregoing will invention that others it for various applicationswithout omitting feafairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic orr'specific aspects: of this invention, and, therefore, such adaptations should andare intended to "be; comprehended within the meanin and range of equivalence; of the following claims.

WhWgI claim as newa-nd desire to secure by .LettersPatent is:

1'. A collapsible swimming or bathing pool comprising in combination a water impervious bottom. "wall; abollansible inflatable side wall consisting of". two superimposed bands of water .impervioussfiexiblematerial having, each a longer and a shorter'perimetral edge and joined along said: longer perimetral edges to each other and firmly joined along said longer joined perimet-ral perimetral edge ofisaid water iminclined inflatable side wall having an upper joined perimetral edge being shorter than said perimetral edge of said water impervious bottom wall; and reinforcing means along said upsaid inwardly inclined in- 2. A collapsible swimming or bathing pool comprising incombination a water impervious bottomwall consisting of a water impervious flexible sheetmaterial; a collapsible inflatable side wall consisting of two substantially equally shaped'superimposed inwardly inclined conical bands 1 Of water impervious course, by opening this "valve itlisalso possible formal-having each-.a-l'onger and a flexible sheet mateshorter perimetr a1 edger and joined :along'said longer perimet-ral .zinclined ;inflatable side wall hav n an upp r To -joined perimetral edge being-shorter than said perimetral edge of said water impervious bottom wall; and a cord-shaped reinforcing member V UNITED STATES PATENTS having the length of said shorter joined permber Name Date imetral edge of said collapsible inflatable side 356,582 Freeman Jan. 25, 1887 Wall and secured to the same along said shorter 5 736,089 Gray Aug. 11, 1903 joined perimetral edge. 7 5,747 Colle Mar. 29, 1904 OCTAVIO JOSE ALVAREZ. 1, Mcculloch May 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Oct. 14, 1902 REFERENCE S CITED The following references are of record in the m gg g file of this patent: 

